This invention relates to a hierarchy type information processing system comprising multiple units, where the units can work as "stand-alone" information processing systems respectively when separated from their parent system. In the same manner the parent system can act as an element of another larger system.
In the field of information processing, recently it is frequently necessary to many users to replace or reconstruct their processing systems.
FIG. 9 shows a prior art processing system 1, where a procedure A arranged according to a user's intention executes the processing A which acquires inputs a.sub.1 and a.sub.2, then processes them and finally reduces them to an output a.sub.3.
Here suppose a situation where an amount of input data is increased, and the system is not able to process it in a pre-determined time.
FIG. 10 shows a replacement of the system 1 by a system 2, where a procedure A+B executes a processing A+B which processes input data a.sub.1, a.sub.2, b.sub.1 and b.sub.2 and then outputs a.sub.3 +b.sub.3. The system 1 in FIG. 9 cannot be used in the system 2 of this case as a unit.
FIG. 11 shows a case wherein a system 3 is added to the system 1 for increased processing. In the system 3, for an added processing B, procedure B is provided. Thus the former systems can be utilized perfectly as units of the system 3, and the system 3 works similarly to the system 2 in FIG. 10. But in accordance with the architecture of the present technology some extra devices such as .alpha. and .beta. are required to distribute the user's intention to both units and to synthesize the outputs from both units. Therefore the system improvement by multi-units idea is not so simple.
Because the construction of more complex systems by this multi-unit idea may require additional devices and efforts, it is that one impractical that one to increase processing load by adding the units unlimitedly.